[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:12] You can have a seat. Take your Bibles, if you would. Go with me to 2 Kings chapter 13 and verse 14. I'm going to read you a Bible story. And you're going to see where these arrows came from.
[0:23] Well, you're going to see where I got the idea for the arrows. 2 Kings chapter 13 verse 14. In the margin of your Bible, you might write down the words, King of Apathy. That's what I call this message.
[0:35] And I preached it when I used to be a missionary on deputation. The Bible says, Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness, whereof he died. And Joash, the king of Israel, came down unto him and wept over his face and said, Oh, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.
[0:54] And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it.
[1:05] And Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And then he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance.
[1:19] And the arrow of deliverance from Syria. For thou shalt smite the Syrians in Apac till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them.
[1:30] And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, very angry. And said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times.
[1:43] Then hadest thou smitten in Syria till thou hadest consumed it. But now, whereas now, thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. Father, please challenge all of us.
[1:55] Not just the missionaries. But the Sunday school teachers. Not just the Sunday school teachers. But the disciples. And foundation. Not just that. But the dads in their homes.
[2:07] As they lead their wife and their children. The moms as they lead their children. I pray God you would touch hearts as we serve you. In our prayer time. In our Bible reading.
[2:17] In our giving. In everything else that we do. That we would be excited about serving you. And excited about fulfilling your call. And I'll give you praise and honor and glory for all that you do. In Jesus' precious name.
[2:28] Amen. Well, Syria had conquered Israel. And was oppressing them. And in chapter 13 and verse 14. Elisha is about to die. He's the man of God. And he is sick.
[2:39] And he is going to die. Chapter 13 verse 14. Most charismatics wouldn't like this verse. Because it says. Of his sickness whereof he died. They get sick and they die. Everybody does.
[2:49] Amen. Sooner or later you're going to die. Sorry. Nobody's going to heal you. Keep you down for 2,000 years. And so he got sick. And he died. And when that was happening. Joash is the king of Israel. And he comes to the man of God on his deathbed.
[3:01] And he recognized that Elisha represents God. God's power. God's deliverance. And he weeps over him. So Elisha is God's man. Now they don't have the Bible like you have the Bible.
[3:12] They don't have all of it written out yet. You know we're in the process of getting to 39 books. We're not to Jesus' time. They didn't have the written word of God like we have it. And so when Joash goes to talk to Elisha.
[3:24] He's talking to the man who talks to God for him. And who tells him what God said to him. I could open the Bible. But Joash couldn't do that. And Elisha tells Joash. He said grab the bow.
[3:35] And grab the arrows. And my window's open. And I want you to shoot that arrow out. And when he shot that arrow out. There was something. In fact it was the old man. Dying and sick and weak.
[3:46] Got up and put his hands on the guy with the bow in the air. And he's helping him shoot the bow in the air. To shoot it out. And shoots it out the window. And he gets a promise from God. He said that arrow is the arrow of deliverance.
[3:59] You are going to defeat your enemy. God's with you buddy. Go out there and fight the battle. God's going to do something. And then he tells him. Now grab the arrows.
[4:10] And strike the ground. And King Joash. Joash grabs. He strikes the ground three times. You can kind of get a picture of it. He takes those arrows.
[4:21] And he grabs the arrow. And I mean if I just heard this arrow. Was going to give me victory. If I just heard it was going to get rid of Isis. If I just heard there's going to be freedom here. And I'm not in trouble anymore.
[4:32] I mean I'd be like wow. Glory to God. I mean wouldn't you. I mean if God looked at you. And the man of God said. Hey take the arrow and strike the ground. You got victory.
[4:42] The king's like you tottering old fool. You want me to hit the ground. He takes it and he goes. And that's it.
[4:53] And the man of God said. Oh my goodness. If you'd have just struck the ground five times. You would have had victory. But you gave up. Elisha warns him.
[5:04] You have shown a half-hearted. Limited obedience. You're not excited. You're not motivated to obey God. You have great apathy. This is an apathetic king.
[5:17] It's very much like us. There's a real problem when you serve God. As long as we've been serving God. I got saved when I was seven. I've been serving God. So that was 1962.
[5:28] I don't know how long that makes it till now. But a long time. 50 years. Yeah 53 years or something like that. Since I got saved. I've been preaching over 40. Two years. 45.
[5:38] About 45 years. You can kind of get used to this. And you can kind of come to church. Like oh ho hum. You can kind of. You know I mean. You remember Christmas. When your kids came downstairs.
[5:50] And they're going to get their Christmas. And they're jumping up and down. And they're so excited. And they can't wait. And then when they're 16 or 18. And they know you ain't got nothing. But a new pair of blue jeans. Form under the tree anyway.
[6:01] And they're kind of like ho hum. Who cares. You remember how they woke you up in the morning. They were excited. But as time goes on. It don't mean the same. Unless you're careful. And so apathy grows in Christians.
[6:14] And apathy grows in the middle of God's people. And they forget man. God's given us great opportunity. And great promise. Look if you would. With me to chapter 13 and verse 17.
[6:24] God offers great opportunities. Given a promise. That he would smite his enemies. Until they were consumed. Look at the last part of verse 17. Till thou have consumed them.
[6:37] You are going to win. Amen. You are going to win. God has given you the victory. You're going to win. You've got it done. And he got the promise.
[6:48] And by the way. Didn't we get the promise? If you're a man of God. If you're a Christian. If you're a Sunday school teacher. Do you not understand? God has given us victory. The church is not in retreat.
[6:59] We're not holding a fort. Till Jesus comes. We got victory. Say amen. The Bible says in Acts chapter 5 and verse 28. Saying. Did not we straightly command you. That you should not teach in his name.
[7:10] This name. And behold. You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. See they were excited. They were excited. They filled Jerusalem with the doctrine. And the intent to bring God. The man's blood upon them.
[7:22] They filled the city. God's power to overcome. God's power to overcome. Was given to Joash. He is going to win. Chapter 13 and verse 16.
[7:33] Even the man of God puts his hands on him. You understand that? You understand that just having that man. Who represents the Lord. In the Bible. In the Bible.
[7:44] When they lay hands on a guy. It's like saying. We're recognizing what God's going to do in you. We're ordaining you. We're recognizing something special. And he did. And the guy still didn't care.
[7:55] You and I have a promise. Every one of you. You're leading your home. You're raising kids. I don't know how you want your kids to turn out. Every day you get more and more discouraging news about kids. That were quote unquote raised right.
[8:07] That turned wrong. I want to get a hold of God. And I want to believe God raised my kids for him. I want to get a hold of God. And I want to believe God has saved the kids in my Bible. In my Sunday school class.
[8:17] I want to get a hold of God. And beg him for full victory. It's ours. In chapter 13 and verse 17. The arrow of the Lord's deliverance. The arrow of deliverance from Syria.
[8:29] You shall smite the Syrians till you have consumed them. And by the way in the Bible. The idea that the church of Jesus Christ will get the gospel to the world is on every page.
[8:42] The problems come though with opportunity. Opportunities require obedience. Opportunities require obedience. Some of you are going to live the rest of your life and never watch God do big stuff in your life.
[8:57] I literally pity you. I feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for a church member who is not wanting to see God do something big. Raise their kids for the glory and the honor of Jesus.
[9:08] Have their marriages turn out right. Have people in their Sunday school class serving Jesus. Have people their disciple grow up and become a preacher. Do something that lasts for eternity. I just don't understand why anybody wouldn't want that.
[9:20] I mean the very idea that my life could do something bigger than be buried someday and forgotten. What a big deal. But opportunity requires obedience. The first step in obedience is to be available for God to tell you what to do.
[9:34] He told him step by step. He said open the window. Shoot the arrow. Grab the arrows. Strike the ground. Obey in little things. Don't you. Can you not see why? I think I understand.
[9:46] If I was that king and I'm, you know, he's young and strong and vibrant and can lead an army. And here's a tottering old man. Here's a guy who's about to die. He's sick and he's weak.
[9:57] And he's probably thinking to himself, who's this weak old man to tell me? Here I am 25 years old. And this old man is going to try to tell me something to do. And his pride probably got in the way.
[10:08] God is going to give him victory. He feels foolish obeying God in such a small thing. He's shooting an arrow and striking the ground. His attitude was a stinking attitude towards the man of God when he should have obeyed without understanding and not do it half-heartedly.
[10:26] Can I just tell you half the things I do? There are times I'm so jealous of you sometimes. Sometimes I'm so jealous of the guy who gets up and goes to work and knows what his job is and does eight hours worth of his job and comes home or ten hours worth of his job and comes home and knows, you know, I put in my hours.
[10:44] I did what I'm supposed to do and I can feel good about that. I work hard as I can. Nobody even thinks it's work. Nobody even thinks it's work. I only work three hours a week, you know. Y'all sure pay me a lot for those three hours.
[10:56] I make more money an hour than any of you. Amen? Because you divide mine into the three hours. Sometimes you have no idea what it's like to sit there and study and, you know, like if you're a carpenter and you nail something down or you're a mason and you put a brick down, it stays there.
[11:08] I work in a guy's life, help him get his life right with God. As soon as I turn around, boop, the board pops off the wall, the brick falls on the ground. And I'm like, what's the use? Amen? What's the use? And so sometimes you do things and you understand.
[11:21] It probably feels kind of inconsequential to you to teach a Sunday school class. I drove back to Wrigley Baptist Church just a few weeks ago. And I went to that little old church where I got saved.
[11:33] And I'm sorry because I'm not the emotional type. But, buddy, when I walked in that building, I got goosebumps singing about it right now. And that little old church, them little old ladies, they were real old, probably 35.
[11:45] But when you're six, that is ancient as dirt. Say amen. And I walked in there and I walk in and I mean, I stick out. When you're in a place like Wrigley, Tennessee, they don't see people.
[11:58] If you ain't one of them, they know it. And, you know, you're driving down the road in the country in the sticks. Every time I drive by, people look at me going, look at that guy from Georgia. What's a Georgia boy doing here? I walked in the church.
[12:09] I'm sitting there and the pastor, I see him. Well, I sit down and there's only like 17 people in the room. Betty and I sit down and he looks at me. I knew it. He's looking at me going, I wonder who that is. And then finally, a preacher from the front said, hey, what you doing here, buddy?
[12:21] I said, I got saved here. So I come back and visit. And the other guy said, I said, back in 1962, the songwriter said, that's back when Carlton Flowers was here. I was a little boy running around myself. I said, that's right.
[12:32] I looked at that piano. My daddy helped carry that piano up those stairs. But some little old teacher taught me in Sunday school probably thought that wasn't nothing. That lady probably never got out of her county. She kept the nursery.
[12:44] My little rear got whipped outside that building so many times. It was the old days. It wasn't this modern day thing y'all guys got where you never have touched your child because you hadn't read Proverbs. Oh, excuse me.
[12:55] That wasn't in the message. And so they didn't have air conditioning. They just had the windows open. And I'd be doing something wrong. My daddy snatched me up, walked me around behind the building. I don't know why he walked me behind the building and beat me.
[13:06] I yelled. Everybody in the church knew what was going on. I came back in. And you could just see all them old fat 35-year-old ladies going, God bless you, Austin.
[13:17] You know, maybe you don't understand keeping that nursery class. And maybe you don't understand teaching that little discipleship thing. And maybe you say, I've worked with these people and it doesn't work. Why don't you just do the little things God told you to do?
[13:29] Maybe something big could happen out of it. What are the main obstacles of getting all that God has for us? What's complacency? Complacency. Apathetic.
[13:40] Apathy. Don't care. Being content. Some things are just like they are and that's how they'll be. Serving without conviction. Serving without conviction. You're not excited.
[13:51] You don't come in thinking, man, God's supposed to do something tonight. Laid back. Not motivated. Matthew 13, 58. The Bible said, he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
[14:04] Not willing to pay the cost. No excitement. No enthusiasm. The outcome of the apathy in the story is you will never experience all God had for you, Joash.
[14:19] You will never experience all that God had for you, Mr. Joash. Joash defeats Syria three times. But they never completely win.
[14:29] Well, I should have said, if you'd have just struck the ground five times. Four or five times. If you'd have just acted like you believed God.
[14:42] But it's like, okay, old man. One, two, three. Are you satisfied? But honestly, if you believed that God was going to do something big with you.
[14:56] If you believe that a great big God in heaven with all the power of eternity. All the power of creation was behind you. When you taught a Sunday school class. When you worked with a little kid in a children's church.
[15:07] When you sang a special. We're not having talent shows here. We could care less about your talent. We want God to be glorified. It's all for him. You ought to be like, man, I'm here to preach and sing and teach for him.
[15:21] Pitiful churches. Not living up to their potential. Or seeing the power of God. Pathetic Christians that never find their purpose in life. A perishing world.
[15:32] A lost and dying world. Friends that never hear the gospel. That could change their lives completely. Blessings depend on God's, on complete obedience to God.
[15:43] And fully believing him. Believe and act. Now listen to me and I quit. Nobody. The arrow.
[15:54] No. Old. Joash was right. There was nothing to that arrow. So what? It's an arrow. Made by a Navajo Indian.
[16:05] It's a dial rod. He bought it. Home Depot. When you look at it and you'll be like, I could have bought a better one at Walmart for less money. We paid ten bucks for these things. We didn't. John Walls paid for them for us.
[16:15] Thank the Lord for John Walls. Amen. We support him. So indirectly we paid for it. Amen. Arrows nothing. But it was believing God that was something.
[16:26] And you're offering devotional. Or you're Sunday school class. Or you're changing that diaper in that little Sunday school room. Or you're going up and talking to some Spanish people about Jesus.
[16:36] Or you're playing a piano. Or you're singing a song. It's really nothing. Oh, they got better piano players everywhere around the world than you could be. There's always somebody better than you. But they don't have the power of God on them.
[16:47] And they're not doing it for God. And they're not believing that God will take that little piano playing. And that little song singing. And that little devotional you do. And that little Sunday school class that you do. You feel foolish teaching those kids.
[16:59] You think, I don't know. This might be a waste. I just wonder about them old ladies in Tennessee. They didn't know who I was that night. I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them that the little redneck boy that got saved in that little church.
[17:11] I drove down the creek where I got baptized. I didn't tell them. That little boy learned Spanish. That little boy walked out of their little church. And went to Adi Keeper Prove. And saw dozens of churches started.
[17:24] Just an arrow. In the hands of a mighty God. I remember them old country ladies. Good night. They didn't have enough sense. They didn't know Bible. Just a country church. It wasn't enough for God to use in my life.
[17:38] Changed me. I'll just give you. I'll just tell you something. Changed my life. It wasn't them ladies. It was the God of heaven. I still remember. I love singing. Old Carlton Flowers. He was a smoking.
[17:49] Smoking Baptist preacher. And he wasn't smoking hot. He was smoking Marlboros. Amen. But he's the guy that led me to Christ. I got saved under his ministry. It wasn't wrong to smoke back then. It just got wrong when he got pulled.
[18:00] I don't know. I mean back in the old days it wasn't that bad. Amen. It probably was. I'm just saying. Even preachers did it back. Spurgeon smoked. Give me a break. I mean. He wrote the 67th book of the Calvinist Bible.
[18:13] Amen. Amen. Hell is moving. Death is coming. Hell is moving. I remember singing that song at an old church.
[18:24] They used to let me go up in front and lead singing. I was six and seven years old and I'd lead singing. I couldn't sing but I could yell. I got red face. He said boy he gets excited don't he? What they didn't know was those little old people that probably never left Hickman County.
[18:40] I doubt they got a passport. I doubt they have any idea that there would be a place like Vision. I think if they came in here they'd be like wow. There's a lot of people.
[18:52] They wouldn't even fit it. They wouldn't even fit it at Wrigley Baptist. We don't even have enough parking for all them people. But God used them. You're a Sunday school teacher and yet you take it so lightly.
[19:05] You disciple you take it so lightly. And you missionaries. The great God of heaven says. Get on the phone and dial those numbers and quit stopping.
[19:16] Beat that arrow on the ground till I give you victory. You can have victory. But you don't because you're a bum.
[19:29] You quit being apathetic. I mean God's willing to use you. God's willing to use you. Ain't nothing about you important.
[19:40] Ain't nothing about you special. But God's willing to use you. You teach a Sunday school class. You're a deacon in our church. Ain't nothing special about none of us. Add all of us up.
[19:51] Add all of our money up. And God would say. You don't even make a cubic yard of my sidewalk. In front of my palace. All the money you guys got doesn't. And all the talent you got you can't do anything.
[20:03] He said it's all me. Say amen. So it's time to quit being apathetic. It's time to say. I don't quit. I don't give up. I hope I'm still beating arrows on the ground when I'm 90.
[20:16] If I'm alive and know where I am. There's a good chance I'll be alive. There's a good chance I won't know where I am. But anyway. Are you feeling apathetic?
[20:28] You let everything beat you up. You quit over nothing. You don't make the phone calls. You don't teach the Sunday school class. You don't come on time. Lord of God. If you're a Sunday school teacher.
[20:40] Get here 30 minutes early. If you're a Sunday school teacher. Pray for them people. If you're a person. Love your kids and tell them about Jesus. Someday. You're going to be old sitting at a table.
[20:51] Wishing to God your kids had gotten saved. And saw something in you. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church.
[21:03] Now Fred Georgia. For more information. Log on to www.visionbaptist.com. Where you can find our service times. Location. Contact information.
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